Chapter 441: Laboratory Girl (3)

That definitely wasn't an alarm clock; the sound of that thing was designed to alert humans and Mages. Although crisp, it was far more ominous than the alert tones of a microwave or a washing machine. Luo Qi knew this clearly in his heart, and he also knew that ninety-nine percent of Mages had no sense of humor; only Du Zhengyi would laugh at his jokes.

Liu Ziyi, that bookworm, was dazed for a full five seconds before she let out an "Oh," reached out to pull up her top, and tilted her head to look at the small human gadget hanging from her waist. "No, no, no..."

She muttered and wailed, anxious to rip that thing off. Her fingers weren't very nimble, and the thing was connected to a black nylon belt with a complicated buckle, and the nylon was very sturdy.

Luo Qi watched her coldly for three seconds before he finally couldn't help but sigh and reach out to help. He opened the girl's nylon belt in one go and took the thing, along with the nylon belt, into his hands.

Liu Ziyi's mouth opened into an 'O' shape. "Impressive technique. Do you often undo human girls' belts?"

Luo Qi suddenly felt his face burning hot. He stood there dumbfounded, holding the girl's belt, let out a vague sound, and then said, "Human girls don't know how to fasten outdoor belts." "Nonsense," Liu Ziyi said while reaching out to take back her belt. "This is what I bought in the women's section of a human store."

"Women's clothing from outdoor brands doesn't count as women's clothing; it's just men's clothing in a smaller size," Luo Qi said. He overcame his blushing, his curiosity making him eager to look at the human instrument in the genius female Mage's hand. "Oh, I know what this is?"

Liu Ziyi was concentrating on looking at the instrument, raising an eyebrow as she asked him, "You know what this is?"

"I've seen something similar online. If this thing isn't a PM2.5 testing device..." Luo Qi revealed a rare look of deep thought and furrowed his brows, "... then this is something humans use to measure radiation."

Liu Ziyi looked up in surprise and took a closer look at him. "You're really scary."

"Holy crap, you're the scary one, okay? What does this mean? There's radiation here? Why? How do you know? Why would there be human radiation in a Mage's territory?" Luo Qi asked, horrified and incessantly.

Liu Ziyi looked at him in shock. "You're really something. You weren't afraid when you were surrounded by Mages and Psychic Beasts in the Society's town, but now you're scared by human radiation?"

"What do you mean? Are you saying our Mage bodies are immune to radiation?" Luo Qi let out a sigh of relief and asked optimistically.

"How could that be!" Liu Ziyi stomped his optimism into the ground. "We are also made of cells and rely on constant cell regeneration to maintain life, so of course we can also be killed by radiation."

Luo Qi was speechless.

"I mean, most Mages don't really understand the issue of radiation from radioactive materials, yet you have such a profound understanding of this thing," Liu Ziyi said, while looking down to continue reading the instrument's data. "The reading suddenly went up, how strange."

"Shouldn't we find cover before we talk?" Luo Qi asked, his voice filled with a horrified, deliberate politeness. That thing of hers had just sounded an alarm!

"It's not as high as I feared," Liu Ziyi said calmly, monitoring the readings. "As long as you aren't planning on having children in the next few months, you'll be fine."

Luo Qi closed his wide-open mouth. After a moment of shock, he shifted his gaze to the energy monitoring grid; the energy on the floor below was still there. "Is he tinkering with a nuclear bomb down here? Planning to wipe us all out in a human way?" Had the Lotus Burner gone that insane? Was Clownfish suffering from intermittent insanity?

"I don't think the radioactive source was brought by an outsider," Liu Ziyi said thoughtfully. There was a slight uncertainty in her voice, but she quickly firmed up her deduction and looked up at Luo Qi. It was as if Luo Qi would debate her; Luo Qi suspected that these bookworms often held academic debates, and to make the right judgment, one had to rely on their tongue rather than their brain.

Luo Qi certainly wouldn't debate her, not only because Luo Qi had no opinion of his own on the matter, but also because he remembered he was a Telepath, a deep practitioner of Meditation, and should use his brain, not his tongue.

Liu Ziyi looked at him twice and decided to explain her deduction to him first. "Do you know about the Highland Mage's Curse?"

"I... know?" Luo Qi said hesitantly; it depended on how deep you defined 'knowing'. "I speculate that all the places chosen for residence by Highland Mages are a bit special, and they might all be very close to a Cursed Land. Right now, under our feet should be a Cursed Land, burying the curse of the Ancestor Mage."

"I don't care about that; I only care about the technical implementation. Since you know these things, do you know how the curse is described?" Liu Ziyi interrupted him.

"I've heard that there are four Sacred Mountains on the Highland, and the Sacred Mountain Curse is carved on the wall of a cave temple." Luo Qi recalled the words Pei Shu had said, and while pondering, he repeated them. Before he had even finished, he realized with horror that he understood what Liu Ziyi meant. "He who profanes the Sacred Mountain shall be drowned in his own blood, his tough internal organs turned into flowing blood-water, the Sacred Mountain shall peel off his skin, turning him into a Blood-Red Ghost, and his soul shall wail forever on the snowy mountain."

"That's right, the effects of the curse are described more or less like that. Let's put the last sentence aside for now; although that part could also come true, I think it's more of a rhetorical device," Liu Ziyi said in the tone of someone speaking at an academic conference. "You are very afraid of radiation, just as wise as humans, and that must be because you, like humans, have learned about the consequences of excessive exposure to radiation. The skin will completely dissolve—the Sacred Mountain shall peel off their skin; internal organs will decompose and melt—the tough internal organs turned into flowing blood-water; after the lungs melt, those who have been irradiated are practically choked to death by their own blood, so he who profanes the Sacred Mountain shall be drowned in his own blood... As long as you read them side-by-side, you'll know that the ancient-sounding curse is just describing a painful death caused by radiation."

"Bull... shit..." Luo Qi said hesitantly. He had never thought that one day a Mage would give him an episode of 'Approaching Science'. But he was Luo Qi, and he knew clearly how much sense Liu Ziyi's words made.

The beeping of the instrument stopped, and the reading settled on a number. They couldn't help but look at that small electronic screen. Liu Ziyi said softly, "I was just suspicious, so I bought the equipment and brought it here. Who would have thought that when I approached the underground area, the radiation reading would actually rise? I've been carrying this ever since, just in case there's danger one day."

"But..." Luo Qi swallowed his question. But why would the great Ancestor Mage create a radioactive source—this question wasn't important, and the reason it wasn't important was that no one could answer it, and Liu Ziyi couldn't answer it either. In fact, the reason didn't matter; what mattered was that the facts were close to this. He said, "The intruder wants to uncover this secret."

"Possibly. He must have been tinkering with something down there that caused the reading to rise," Liu Ziyi said. "This is very dangerous."

"You stay here," Luo Qi swallowed and said with difficulty. "I'll go down and take a look. Anyway, the data you want is what I can collect; there's no need for you to go down. Just wait for me here."